


So. Cal, Sand, and Secrets

by LadyNovaJade



Series: From Afar [2]
Category: American (US) Actor RPF, Chris Evans (actor) - Fandom
Genre: Bigger Girl OFC, F/M, I know I'm crazy, We're in this pit of RPF together friends, With Fluff, and Dodger, and here we are, and making out, and more Boston accents, and secrets, and sex, and some angst, because Jade is badass, first person fic, so ... they wouldn't leave me alone, some language, with another Chris x Jade go around
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2019-09-22 12:31:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17059817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNovaJade/pseuds/LadyNovaJade
Summary: The sequel to “Boston, Bars, and Beards” — Chris and Jade struggle to figure out just what they mean to each other now.





	1. Prologue

[Prologue]


	2. Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again.... this is all the fault of one Chris Evans.

| Part One |

_“Chicago.”_

Fall was, by far, my most favorite time of the year in the Midwest … when it cooperate that is. In Indiana, one day could be 65 and fall-crisp perfect. Then you’re hit with wind, rain, and a chill of barely 40 degrees. **  
**

It was fickle, but when it hit it right, it was pretty gorgeous. Staring out my office window, I couldn’t help but feel sad that I was cooped up indoors while such a right, Midwest fall day was occurring outside.

With a heavy sigh, I turned back to my computer to continue picking away at a story I just couldn’t find the motivation to continue. But with my deadline creeping up the next day, I needed to bang it out as quickly as possible.

A sharp rap on my door frame happily pulled my attention away from the blinking cursor in front of me. I turned and smiled at my co-worker, friend, and fellow nerd Kate. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Soooo…. What do you think?” she asked as bounced into the office and dropped in the chair next to my desk.

“About …. What?” I asked, eyebrow raised. With Kate, her question could pertain to a number of things — from our mutual love of the Great British Baking Show to the last teaser trailer for “Captain Marvel.”

“The freakin’ Con in Chicago this weekend!” she practically squealed, quite literally vibrating in the chair. “They announced Chris Evans was going last minute! Tickets are going on sale first thing tomorrow morning.”

My heart thudded against my chest and I had to turn away and attempt to hide the blush I knew was starting up my face. “Oh yeah? No, I hadn’t heard that,” I said as evenly as I could.

I had no poker face, but against all odds I had been able to keep from most of my friends and everyone at the office what had happened during my business trip to Boston only a few weeks ago. Aside from the fact I had slept with a complete stranger not once, but _several_ times, I did not want to broadcast that the stranger had been none other than Chris Evans.

Yeah, definitely not an easy conversation there, especially for someone who had spent a lot of time in the office joking about marrying said man in the future.

_No one can take a joke anymore._

“You are so full of shit,” Kate laughed. “You’ve probably known about it for hours and left me in the dark!”

I pursed my lips and went back to poking at my keyboard. Truth of the matter was I hadn’t known about his appearance at all and I felt a sudden ire at the fact — not because I had been mute to all comic con news, but because I had the source on hand and he didn’t say anything to me.

Yes, though it had started as a one-night stand with Chris, it had become … something else. We had exchanged phone numbers before I left and surprisingly, he kept in touch with me. Definitely not what I had been expecting, but really everything with Chris so far had thrown me for a loop.

“Jade?” Kate asked, the mirth now gone from her voice.

I took a deep breath, “Yeah you’re right. I knew about it, but there’s no way I can swing it. Which is super disappointing.”

She frowned and sat back in the chair, “Man, I’m sorry, girl. I didn’t mean to …”

A forced laugh left my lips as I turned to smile at her, “Seriously, it’s cool. I mean, yeah I’m disappointed, but I really shouldn’t. I’d probably get myself into a whole load of trouble.”

Her grin returned, “I still think it would be cool if you proposed.”

I rolled my eyes, feeling my cheeks blush. It was so easy to joke about shit like that when Chris was some distant being I would never see in my orbit. But with my cell phone right next to me, chronicling the crazy, long conversations we had been having over the last few weeks as well as marking the numerous times we had called each other “just to catch up,” reality came up to smack me hard in the face — it’s fucking weird to joke about that shit when you have, in fact, slept with said person.

“Nah, too fucking weird,” I said as she stood and headed for the door.

“We should get together this weekend and lament your missed opportunity with a Cap marathon,” Kate said.

Normally, I would jump on that in a heartbeat…

“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see?”

“Sure!” she said with a chipper smile. “I gotta jet. Mason is wanting to go out for drinks.”

“Oooh,” I teased as I started to log off too. “Sounds like it’s a little bit more than casual, Kate.”

She rolled her eyes and shrugged, “We’ll see. You leaving too?”

I shook my head, “Nah, got one more thing to do then I’m out. Don’t wait.”

Once she was down the hallway and out of sight, I snatched my phone and opened up my messages. Clicking on the window of conversation I had going with Chris, my fingers typed out a quick message. 

_Hey what are you up to?_

He didn’t owe me anything. He didn’t owe me a damn thing. I knew that. Rational Jade was smart, and didn’t expect a movie star living most of his life in Hollywood to key me into every bit of his life. But said movie star had opened the door — he had asked me about Chicago not five fucking days ago. He was seriously a dumbass if he thought I had forgotten about that.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when my phone vibrated in response. 

I pursed my lips and tried to stay calm. Again, he didn’t owe me anything … but he had fucking brought it up first. How was he going to ask me how far I was from Chicago, keep me in the dark, and then freakin’ sneak into a con last minute without letting me know? We may have not been a couple, but we were friends. Or at least that was the impression I had gotten.

I typed out my response and hit send before I could change my mind. 

Best to be straight to the point, right? I thought so anyway. I immediately sat the phone back on the desk, face down, and chewed on my thumb nail. I wasn’t worried about his response. Nope, not worried at all.

So what if I just got bitchy with the guy playing Captain America? Whatever. I didn’t care. He could go to Chicago and not say anything to me about it. It’s cool. He just best not expect me to respond to his innuendos positively anymore.

It had been a bit and my phone had yet to vibrate with a response. My knee bouncing anxiously, I snatched the phone and opened the message window again. He was not going to ignore me on this …

I stared at the three little dots for what seemed like an eternity. They would disappear for a moment, then reappear, taunting me as Chris was obviously crafting his response. The dots stopped one final time and never appeared again. I sighed, sitting the phone down and putting a hand over my face.

_Way to go, Jade. Being reactionary and not trying to be calm has once again fucked everything up._

I jumped a mile at least when the phone began to buzz and vibrate with my ringtone. My hand lashed out, grabbing the phone and turning it over … my heart sank to my stomach as that ridiculous nickname with the equally ridiculous peach emoji next to it flashed at the top.

_Fucking hell._

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I swiped to answer and put the phone to my ear.

“Before you say anything, I’m sorry,” Chris’ warm voice came through.

Each time we talked on the phone, it hit me right in the gut. How rough his actual voice was, laced with the hints of that Boston accent. He either had been on set all day or he had just finished a cigarette. He thought he was clever, but I knew he was still smoking occasionally. Even though I asked him to stop. And I knew his mother asked him to stop.

But I wasn’t his mother. Wait, why am I talking about his mother?

I pursed my lips, trying to figure out if I wanted to be mad at him or just tell myself to get over it. He wasn’t anything to me … right?

“Jade, honestly, I was trying to surprise you. I thought I could keep it secret long enough, but I should have known better,” Chris continued, rambling as even I could feel the rise in his anxiety. “I wasn’t trying to sneak into Chicago without you finding out.”

I made myself take a steady breath before I opened my mouth, “Is that why you asked me how far I was from Chicago?” I asked softly, hating how tight my voice sounded.

He sighed, “Yeah. I wanted to make sure it was doable. I’m not really subtle, am I?”

He was definitely charming, whether he was trying or not. I felt myself sigh too.

“Why didn’t you just say something then?” I asked quietly. “I was completely blind-sided today by Kate at work.”

Chris was quite a moment before I heard him draw in a breath. “I was going to fly you up here for the weekend,” he answered quietly.

My heart immediately tanked to my stomach, “You were gonna WHAT?”

I didn’t have to be looking at him to know that he was running a hand through his hair nervously now, “Um, yeah. I thought I would surprise you, fly you up here to spend the weekend.”

I sighed heavily, pressing a hand to my face, “Chris…”

“I know. I’m realizing now, it might not be the smartest move,” he answered quietly.

I felt horrible — like I had kicked a puppy. “It’s not that I wouldn’t want to come up to Chicago to see you, Chris,” I said softly, hoping to soften the obvious blow of the fact there was NO way I could just go up to Chicago this weekend.

“So you want to come?” he asked, voice lit up with a bit of hope.

“Of course I want to,” I answered a little more indignantly than I wanted to. “It’s just … I can’t just drop everything and fly up for two days.”

To that he didn’t have much to say and I started to feel even worse. “Chris, you’re going to be so busy at the Con those two days … I would probably barely get to see you,” I continued quietly.

He cleared his throat, “Yeah, yeah. You’re right.” Then a rueful chuckle floated through the phone. “I’m sorry, Jade. I should have let you know sooner instead of just springing it on you.”

I swallowed hard and picked at the skirt I was wearing, “It’s fine, Chris. I figured something was up when you texted me about how far I was from Chicago.”

“Well still. It’s not your job to read my mind, huh?” he joked, trying to lighten the mood. His voice didn’t quite carry it though.

I closed my eyes, trying to not feel silly. “It’s not like you owe me anything, Chris.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

His voice wasn’t vicious, but I could tell he was confused. I chewed on my bottom lip for a moment, thinking of my words carefully. “I mean … you and I aren’t dating or anything. You don’t have to tell me when you’re going to be places,”  I said softly, feeling lame.

Surely he knew now — that I was pretty much attempting to avoid catching feelings for him. Because there was a snowball’s chance in hell that would ever happen. I had to keep myself in check because … well rejection was a bitch.

“Jade, of course I owe it to you to let you know if I’m going to be near you. We’re …” Chris trailed off, catching himself and my heart thudded painfully anymore.

This conversation was getting way out of control.

“Look, I’m sorry,” I said quickly, feeling my voice force its way out of my throat without hitching. “I shouldn’t have jumped all over you about it.”

“Jade,” he said suddenly and the pity I detected made me want to puke.

“Hey, I gotta go. Traffic is gonna be crazy and I have to run to the store before I head home,” I interrupted, gathering up my stuff.

“Jade, stop, please don’t think…,” Chris started, but I had a feeling I knew what he was going to say and I didn’t think I was ready to hear it.

“No worries. Seriously. We’ll talk later okay? Bye,” I squeaked out and then hung up.

Yeah … not my finest moment.

When I ended the call, I fell back into my chair and pressed my hands to my face. I was a freaking idiot. What was I thinking, texting him like that? That was just asking for trouble at best, and at the very worst, I would pretty much spill to Chris that I was fighting to keep my feelings at bay. Which of course, I was convinced I had just done.

Again, what was I thinking?

Pfft, being friends with Chris Evans? Now just as unbelievable as a fucking one night stand with the man. 

* * *

Texts from Chris became sporadic after that night. I kept trying to tell myself he was finishing up filming and then he jetted to Chicago — his time wasn’t his own at the moment.

But it didn’t ease the fact that I had completely botched a good thing in my life and all because I wanted more than I could ever have.

He sent me a few pictures from the Con, telling me in clipped sentences how cool it was, that he was having a good time. I watched his live panel, however, and he looked so tired.

_You should have fucking went._

Yeah, well, moot point now. 

The following week was when the real radio silence started. I found myself staring at my phone, willing a text from Chris to appear and being immensely disappointed when one never would. Part of me wanted to call him, to apologize again and beg him to let our relationship — as weird and short as it was — go back to how it had been. But that was fantasy. He wouldn’t be able to forget my freak out anymore than I would.

I would have to just learn to let it go. And that was fine. I could do that. In theory.

“You sound a lot different than you did a few weeks ago,” my best friend Max said during our weekly Skype conversation. She was living in southern California and I envied her a little bit with each call. Especially now, when it was getting dreary in the Midwest and it matched my feelings.

“Work’s been pretty stressful,” I answered nonchalantly. It was a good fall back.

“Are you sure? After your trip to Boston, you seemed, I don’t know,” she pushed a bit more. “It was like your spirits were lighter. Like you had something to look forward to.”

I sighed, “Max, please don’t push this. I … I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

“Well okay,” she said cautiously. “Hey, maybe you need a break. Why don’t you come out here for a week or so?”

I rolled my eyes, “I hate LA.” She knew that too.

“You’d love it this time of year, though. It’s so nice and warm. And I have some time I could take off. We can sit on a beach. Not talk about anything,” she continued, truly enticing me with each word. 

 

I _could_ use a getaway. And something that could get my mind off my latest fuck up.

“You know what, why not? Maybe I could learn to love LA after all.”

Max squealed on the computer screen and began rattling off dates for me to look at. She talked a lot in the following minutes, but I wasn’t really listening. My phone had vibrated and wouldn’t you know … it was a text from Chris.


	3. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Soundtrack: "Chinatown" by Wild Nothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kudos, comments, and bookmarks! <3 
> 
> I don’t have any idea what is up with this part or Jade. I just know … I feel a lot for her. Also, I figure you can’t get an Uber in L.A. as quickly as my characters can, but … yeah, just go with it. Actually, there’s probably a lot about L.A. and movie sets that I get wrong in this whole story. It’s fanfic, I’m sure you’ll all be okay with it lol.
> 
> Enjoy xoxo

[Part Two]

“ _Compartmentalizing is not good for the soul._ ”

There was something nice about 60 degree weather in November. Even though everyone in L.A. seemed to be bundled up like it was 40 or below. But I was completely okay with short sleeves and jeans.

“How can you be cold in this weather?” I asked as Max and I perused through some shops. The sun was shining and I was so glad I left my jacket at her place.

Max, on the other hand, was bundled up in a parka and even had a ball cap on. She looked at me from under the bill, her dark eyes almost rolling back before she caught herself. It was a new tactic, she had told me in the airport — not rolling her eyes at people all the time.

“You realize this is like our 40 degrees, right?” Max questioned, picking up an item sitting on a sales table outside.

“Pssh. You’re just a baby now,” I teased her as we moved along, sipping on our Starbucks iced teas.

“Sooooo,” Max started after a moment. “You gonna tell me what’s been going on with you?”

I slowly turned to look at her, eyebrow raised, “What do you mean?”

She rolled her eyes. “You go to Boston and clearly had a good time, come back and moon for three weeks over a guy you supposedly just had a one-night stand with, and now you’re sad,” she ticked off on her fingers. “Compartmentalizing is not good for the soul. What happened?”

I drew in a deep breath and felt my shoulders fall — yeeeeeeah, when it came to my best friend, I wasn’t really great at hiding things. “I just read into things too much. Classic Jade,” I said softly, hoping she would just drop it at that.

“What do you mean? Were you guys still talking?” Max asked. 

I didn’t really want to talk about this in a public setting, even if we were in L.A. and no one knew me. I had _not_ , of course, divulged to Max who my one night stand had been. But I needed to. I hated to lie to her and wanted to stop … _but_ ….

“Hey do you see movies filmed here all the time?” I asked, trying really, _really_ poorly to deflect the conversation. 

“Oh no you don’t,” Max started, stepping in front of me and giving me a glare. “I usually let you get away with that, but this is serious, Jade.”

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about things,” I countered.

“That was only on the condition of being on the beach, which we are not. So … what aren’t you telling me?”

I sighed, slumping even more, “It’s … complicated. I didn’t really think I would talk to him after but he kind of insisted and well …”

“It’s complicated,” Max finished, giving me a rueful smile.

I nodded, “I want to tell you, Max.”

She wrapped her arm around me as we continued walking, “Hey, it’s okay sweetie. I know. I’m sorry if I pushed too much.”

“No, you haven’t. Well maybe a little,” I said, knocking my hip into hers a bit. I then took in a deep breath, “It’s just, talking about it in public is a little too ‘in public,’ you know?”

Max laughed again, “Exactly who is this guy you hooked up with?” 

_Ohhhhh, if she only knew._

We walked a long a bit more, changing subjects easily as best friends do. Shopping was ditched in favor of food when our stomachs started to growl, so we grabbed lunch at one of Max’s favorite spots. Afterward, as we continued to meander along with no real destination, Max pulled one of her classic spontaneous adventure plans that always had a tendency to scare the crap out of me.

“Hey, I have an idea,” she said quickly, pulling her phone out of her back pocket and opening up her Uber app.

“Uh oh,” I laughed. “How much trouble are you going to get me into?”

“Shush you,” she chided, putting in an address I couldn’t see. “You gave me an idea earlier so we’re running with it.”

My eyes narrowed as we waited for the car, “What idea? I don’t have ideas, I’m just here following you around.”

Max only smiled and my anxiety responded in kind as the Uber pulled up and she pushed me in.

“Seriously, Max, where are we going?” I asked, a little apprehension settling in my chest and causing my heart to flutter.

She grinned and dropped her voice, conspiratorially whispering to me, “You wanna go see if we can crash a movie set?”

My eyes widened, “Um, no! I don’t want to go to jail.”

She laughed, “Oh, we aren’t really going to crash it. But when you brought it up earlier, it got me thinking. I can’t believe I didn’t think about this!”

“About … what?” I prodded.

“Well, one of my co-workers Crystal _always_ knows where they are filming new movies around town. But she never wants to go to the sets! It’s like some unspoken thing in LA, she says. Like you aren’t supposed to acknowledge celebrities or recognize that actual films are being made in your town.” This time she couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling. “But I’ve always wanted to go. Now that you are here, I can drag you to one with me!”

I pursed my lips together and let the car fill up with silence for a moment. “Which movie are we going to?”

Max just shrugged her shoulders and did a horrible job at hiding her knowing smirk, “I guess you’ll just have to wait and see, won’t you?”

_Not. Good._

“Max,” I started.

“Don’t worry. This will be great.”

***

Arriving at the location was a little … underwhelming to be honest. I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting to see, but the lack of anything really threw me off. There were some barricades and huge guys that were obviously security of some sort trying to be inconspicuous as they walked in the same circled paths. They were trying and failing miserably to go unnoticed.

Max got out of the car first and then pulled me over to the street across away from the walking zombie security guards. I still was super confused as I couldn’t see _anything_. Not a set, or people walking around. Not even trailers.

“I think you got bad intel,” I said as we stopped at the corner, well away from the beefcakes guarding the street.

“Nah, they won’t let anyone within two blocks. This is just the back perimeter,” she said, standing on tiptoe and looking around. “See! Look, there are a couple trailers for the actors down that way. They are supposed to be on this location for today and tomorrow.”

Curiosity was getting the better of me and I went up on my tiptoes as well to see if I could spot anyone that looked familiar, “Who’s in the film?”

“Oh only a few people you may have heard of.” I could tell by her voice she was being an ass on purpose.

“Max…”

“Okay, okay. But promise you won’t freak out? Because I really hope you get to see him,” she said, her eyes pleading me.

“See who?”

A few things happened in those following seconds.

One, Max squealed like a teenage girl, grabbing my arm and smiling brightly.

Two, a dog randomly barked. A man shouted after it.

Three, something barrelled into my legs and almost took me out.

“Oh god! Jade, are you okay?” Max asked, helping me steady myself and avoiding kissing the pavement.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I answered, turning to see a dog prancing around me. A dog with tan and white fur…

“Oh fuck,” I whispered.

“Dodger!” A sharp male voice called after and I swear everything in me seized up. 

_You have the craziest, shittest luck ever…_

“I’m so sorry, he _never_ does this. I’m not sure what’s gotten…” Chris Evans came to a halt about five steps from me, blue eyes wide and mouth dropping open as our gazes met.

Dodger was jumping on me like crazy and I could do nothing but rub my hands up and down his fur to get him to calm down. Finally settled, the pup let me grab his leash as he looked up at me and barked happily. I swallowed hard and gave Chris a sheepish smile.

“Jade?”

He looked so different than the last time I saw him. Clean shaven, hair longer and blonder, swept back up off his forehead in a coiff he had sported before. Gone was the cuddly looking Boston boy I had run into months ago. This was the movie star everyone always gunned after. It was almost like … seeing a completely different person.

“Hey Chris,” I said softly.

_So. Fucking. Fucked._

“Wh…. How…,” he stumbled through, taking a couple steps closer to me as I just stood there like an idiot.

My mouth was so dry, I had to swallow hard before I could find the words to answer him, “Just visiting.”

“Wait a damn minute.” And that would be Max… “You two _know_ each other?”

I looked at my best friend sheepishly, feeling horrible, “Kind of, yeah.”

“Kind of?” Chris’s voice came back into the conversation, sounding even more confused.

“I …” 

I what? Purposely didn’t tell him I was going to be in L.A.? Had been thinking just the night before when he texted me he was getting to start a film that I wished I could see him? That I was a fucking dumbass….

“Wow, this tension is crazy,” Max commented, breaking the moment and causing my elbow to push into her side. “What? I’m just saying …”

“How did you know I was here?” Chris asked sternly.

“I didn’t,” I answered, feeling myself get a little defensive. “Max is my best friend and lives out here. I’m visiting her.”

“Yeah, to get her mind off some guy who had seemed to blow her off recently,” Max chimed in. Before I could strangle her, she leaned forward and offered her hand to Chris, “Hi, I’m Max Winters. The best friend to the heroine in this story.”

I groaned. _Seriously?_

Whatever he had been thinking, Chris obviously cleared it out of his mind and took Max’s hand, shaking it, “It’s nice to meet you, Max.”

The three of us stood in awkward silence for what felt like a lifetime, but couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Dodger’s leash was still in my hand and the pup panted and walked around me playfully, rubbing up against my legs in an obvious attempt at attention.

“Well, on this lovely note, I think I’m going to leave you two alone to talk,” Max said, clapping her hands together.

“No, Max, it’s …” I started, feeling a bit frantic. What was I going to say to him?

_Oh hey, sorry I was a dumbass but I basically stopped texting you because I didn’t want to like, you know, fall in love with you or anything. So how about we pretend you didn’t see me and we can continue to ignore each other through texts?_

Just kill me.

“Trust me, chick, you two need a heart to heart,” my best friend who was about to abandon me like the ass that she was smirked as she pulled out her phone to open the Uber app yet again. “Then you have a lot of explaining to do later.”

“I’m sure Chris has to be back on set, it’s really not,” I tried again, grasping at straws. 

Chris cleared his throat and took a step toward us, which excited Dodger, “Actually, I don’t have to be back for at least a couple hours.”

_Greeaaaat._

“See? Peachy keen. I’ll see you later then, Jade.” Max winked at me as she started down the street, obviously toward the corner where her car would be coming to pick her up.

I pulled in a deep breath and felt two very different things at once — one, relief that I was actually seeing Chris again and two, sheer panic that I would have to actually talk to Chris.

I was pretty much frozen to the spot, watching Max leave me.

Dodger tugged on the leash in my hand and drew my attention back as the dog made a move toward his master. I swallowed hard and took a step toward Chris, handing over the leash. “Sorry.” I wasn’t sure why I was apologizing.

Chris shook his head, “I’m just glad it was you he saw.”

_He only means he’s glad Dodger didn’t run after a car or something. It has nothing to do with you._

“Do you… my trailer is this way,” he interrupted my thoughts as he jerked his head back down the blocked off street.

I swallowed hard and nodded, following him as he started toward what was obviously the movie set. I kept in step with him, Dodger trotting along between us and helping create a gap between me and Chris. We didn’t see anyone for the first block we walked and I wondered how much of this part of L.A. they shut down for the set.

My eyes flickered over to Chris, who faced forward and walked with purpose. His jaw was set firmly and there was no smile, no smirk. Just blank face. It somehow made me more nervous.

Finally after a few minutes, we came upon a grouping of short trailers and more beefy security looking guys. My steps slowed for no reason other than I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. Maybe they wouldn’t let me by? I think I could have lived with that.

“Hey Ken,” Chris greeted the man closest to us. A smile had come to his face for the greeting, causing the security man to smile back.

“Hey man. Get a good walk in?” Ken asked, moving the barricade aside to allow Chris and Dodger through.

I shifted uneasily on my feet, not daring to move through the barricade at all, especially when Ken was shifting his eyes toward me while Chris moved.

“Oh yeah. But this little shit got away and ended up bumping into a friend of ours,” Chris answered, gesturing to me.

Ken gave a huff of a laugh that neither indicated acceptance of the story or a welcome to me, “Dogs, man. They have minds of their own.”

I looked back and forth between the two men, still rooted to my spot on the other side of the barrier.

Chris gave his own soft, forced laugh as he pulled Dodger closer, “Yeah. But you know, sometimes they know what’s best.” He then turned to me, holding out his hand as a rueful smile lifted the corner of his lips.

Mouth dry, I reached out and let my palm rest in his. Chris curled his fingers around my hand and held on gently, tugging me through the opening in the barrier. I was too afraid to look at Ken, but Chris gave him a farewell and led both Dodger and me toward the trailers.

A few moments later, Chris was pulling out a key and unlocking his trailer door. He quietly ushered Dodger in first — who galloped into the structure with gusto and ease. Then Chris turned to me.

I had never questioned whether Chris was a good actor or not. I always believed he was. From his early goofy roles to his Marvel movies and pieces like “Snowpiercer,” the man could act. But he had a wall up now. I couldn’t see anything in his eyes, not in his mouth, or in his body language. He was a blank slate. It further solidified to me how capable he was of controlling his responses, his demeanor.

Chris gave a slight jerk of his head toward the door, as much as an invitation as I was going to get. Very different than the last time he invited me into his space.

Still, I swallowed hard and slipped past him into the trailer.

For better or worse, this was happening. And I could only hope to come out the other side with my heart still intact.


	4. Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Soundtrack: “Cain” by EXES
> 
> Thank you to everyone for their kudos and comments. I read everything and love seeing notifs from you guys enjoying the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! xoxo

[Part Three]

_“This shouldn’t be easy.”_

Stepping up into Chris’s trailer, the first thing that occurred to me was that it was smaller than I had anticipated. It was typically what a camping trailer would look like — small kitchen area, smaller dining area, small hallway leading to an equally small bedroom and most likely a small bathroom. Small, small, small…

Kind of like how I felt at the moment, unfortunately.

“I always thought these things were bigger,” I said randomly as I stepped further inside while Chris climbed the stairs behind me.

“Yeah, well we aren’t here but for a few days. If this were a backlot, it would be bigger.” There was no heat to his tone — really there was nothing at all. Just information sharing.

I swallowed hard and meandered a bit closer to the seating booth. This was it — I couldn’t avoid anymore this moment where I would have to find out really what happened when he had called me about Chicago. I slowly lowered myself into the booth and took a deep breath, raising my eyes to meet his.

Chris still had a stoic, blank look on his face. He held my gaze for what felt like a lifetime before he turned, slipping off the light jacket he wore, walked closer to me, and tossed it onto the other side of the booth.

But he didn’t sit down, and that didn’t settle well with me.

“You didn’t tell me you were going to be out here,” Chris said softly, and finally I heard something in his voice.

Unfortunately it sounded a lot like disappointment.

“Obviously I didn’t,” I said, keeping my voice level.

He pursed his lips and then shrugged, “So if you were going to not say anything, why even come to the set?”

I sighed now, “I didn’t know this was your set. I didn’t know you were even filming in town until you said something randomly yesterday. I’m here to see Max and she suggested visiting a movie set to cheer me up.”

“Yeah, to get you over some guy blowing you off,” Chris said sarcastically, crossing his arms. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that guy is me.”

My heart felt stuck in my throat, “Those are her words, not mine. Max is very protective of me,” I answered softly.

“But it’s not like you don’t agree with her,” he accused.

And I don’t know, maybe I was tired. Maybe I was over wondering if I had overstepped a line. Maybe I was just fed up with feeling like I constantly was not doing the right thing.

Whatever it was, his tone had me narrow my eyes at him, “You know, I don’t know why you are berating me like I did something wrong here.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Jade. Maybe it just seems like another Chicago with the tables turned,” he shot back.

I shot up out of the booth, “I don’t owe you anything! You don’t owe me anything!”

He stared at me, his eyes going wide. But I didn’t feel like being patient or easy about this anymore. I honestly was tired of babying him.  

“We slept together and spent a weekend together, Chris. I’m not your girlfriend! I’m not supposed to tell you every move I’m making to see if it matches your plans, am I?” I asked, stepping closer to him as I felt the anger roll through me like a tide.

“You gave me your number, but we never had any discussion about what we were. So, I went with friends. Because, let’s face it, in what world are you gonna date me after one weekend of fucking?” I rambled on. “I was ready to be okay with that. Because let me inform you of something, Mr. Fucking Hot Shot. You want a girl to not think of you as an actor or treat you like an actor, but that’s what you fucking are!”

I stalked into his space and poked his shoulder, “You are Chris Evans and you are an A-list movie star, and who the fuck am I? Compared to that, how do I measure up? We both know it’s not much.” 

I scoffed and turned away, “You know how much I have to fight, every single day since I left Boston, with the thoughts that there could be more between us? I have to bat them back, every, single, day. Because I want there to be more. When we were together, everything felt too good to be true. It felt comfortable and not perfect, but _good_. And I’ve never had just good. Then we were texting and talking every day and getting to know each other more, and I had this crazy thought. Like maybe, just _maybe_ a guy like you would want more than just a fuck with a girl like me.” 

I shook my head, all the anger and fight suddenly leaving me. After all, it wasn’t Chris’s fault I had issues with not only my appearance but my self worth. It wasn’t his fault I doubted so much that I meant anything to anyone.

I sat back down in the booth, this time facing away from him as I propped my elbows on the table and covered my face with my hands. “I was trying so hard to not fall for you. Then you wanted to fly me up to Chicago, you wanted to see me again and I panicked. I just panicked.”

While I tried to keep myself from crying, I heard Chris shuffle on his feet behind me. “Why were you trying not to fall for me?” he asked quietly.

I let out a rueful laugh, “Because, Chris. What hope could I ever have of you falling for me in return? This isn’t a Hallmark movie. I don’t believe you’re a guy who sleeps around with random women, but still.” I sniffled and wiped at my face. “Our lives are so out of each other’s orbit. And … it’s just … I’m not…”

He came up to my side at that point, kneeling down next to me. I sniffled again and took in a shaky breath. His hand came to rest on my thigh gently. The touch had my eyes watering again and my throat tightening. For some reason, the thought of him being nice to me after that outburst didn’t feel right. I felt my chin quiver and I pushed the heels of my palms against my eyes again to try to shut it out.

“You have to know that you are worth that, okay? You are a good person who is made up of good things. People are worth more than what they look like or what they do or where they live,” Chris spoke softly, his thumb gently moving on my thigh as his hand stayed put. With my eyes closed, listening to his voice, it was like we were back in Boston and he was saying these unbelievable things that I could just attribute to a really good round of sex.

But we weren’t in Boston in anymore.

Chris pulled in a deep breath and squeezed my thigh gently. “Just because you aren’t in my orbit doesn’t mean that makes you less than me. And just because I’m not in your ‘circle’ doesn’t make me less than you.” 

I sniffled and shook my head. _Things aren’t easy in life. Never. You can’t expect to fall in love and it all just work out. You can’t expect good things, because they get taken away. You can’t expect people to truly be as good as you want them to be, because there’s always a catch. There always is a catch. And Chris may be sweet and kind and a good person, but there always was a catch._

“Jade, sweetheart, look at me,” he said deeply, a voice that would take no refusal. I swallowed hard and turned my face to him, still trying to hide myself behind my hands. Chris reached up and took one of my hands, pulling it down. “There’s nothing that is stopping us. Absolutely _nothing_.”

“Except me,” my voice croaked out, shame washing over me again.

“Hey, no,” he breathed, seeing my eyes well up with tears again. He shifted up and pushed into the booth next to me, keeping my one hand in his as his other arm wrapped around me. I had forgotten how good he smelled, how warm and solid he felt. “No, okay? I get it but I understand that I’ll never truly get it, either. But, you aren’t the only one in this. Right?” He paused and used our clasped hands to gesture back and forth between us. “You and me are in this. And you aren’t going to sit here and say you’re messing things up when you aren’t, Jade.”

I struggled with a sob caught in my throat, “But Chicago, and the barely talking, and now this. It’s on me…”

“Chicago’s on me,” he interrupted gently, pressing our hands against his chest. “You did nothing wrong. I got overzealous and … you’re right. I didn’t think. I’m used to those around me who I care about being accustomed to my life already and it all just working out. I didn’t take into consideration that you’re new to this. That one is all me, sweetheart.”

I swallowed hard, digesting his words. “But I freaked out…”

“Rightfully so. But you’re not taking any blame for that. If you think you overreacted, I will accept that apology. But I overwhelmed you. I knew better,” he interrupted again.

My brow furrowed in confusion. _This shouldn’t be easy._

I pursed my lips and sniffled again, “Then this is on me,” I started slowly.

Chris gave a slow, thoughtful nod. “I mean, maybe,” he said after a moment. “After all, I’m the one who stopped texting you so frequently.”

I lifted my head and shook it in protest, “No, I pushed away because of that freak out. And it made sense for you to stop texting me after I turned you down…”

“Nope, sorry. You’re not getting that one either because I know for a fact why I stopped texting you so much and what you said in that phone call had nothing to do with it,” he countered.

I stared at him for a moment, “What do you mean?” 

It was his turn to look away sheepishly, glancing down at our hands that he still held against his chest. “Well, I backed off on texting you because I knew I was coming on to strong. I didn’t really think that before the call about Chicago, but afterward I realized I had these expectations I didn’t tell you. And that wasn’t fair to you.”

I swallowed hard and allowed to silence to surround us for a moment. I stared at him while Chris couldn’t seem to take is eyes off our hands.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was coming here,” I said softly. “You can’t take that one, it’s all me. Especially when you told me yesterday that you were filming. I should have been up front.”

He finally flicked his blue eyes up to mine, but he didn’t say anything, which I thought was good. I didn’t want him to take blame for this. I had to be honest.

“I didn’t tell you I would be here because truthfully, I thought you wouldn’t care. Not in a hateful way but … you had just stopped texting as much and I thought, okay well, we can just be kinda friends who slept with each other that one time and that’s that. I didn’t want to bug you or make you feel like you were obligated to see me just because we happened to be in the same city again.”

“Jade,” Chris said, the scoff he let out sounding more than a little indignant. “I would never feel obligated to see you. I _want_ to see you.”

“Well, I mean, I didn’t really know that until now,” I started to ramble, feeling quite silly and very weepy still.

_The crying. The crying is always what gets them and tells them to run, run as fast as you can!_

Instead of countering my argument, Chris leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. Everything in me sighed — my lungs, my mind, my heart. In an instant, I was back in his townhouse in Boston, laying in his arms in his bed, his lips moving over mine knowingly, as if we had spent _every_ Sunday together. My body moved before my mind commanded it to, shifting and pressing into Chris, seeking what I had missed over the last month. 

After a slow, long moment, Chris gentled the kiss and pulled back. His forehead rested against mine and he huffed out a laugh. “I’ve missed that,” he commented softly.

I laughed softly too and then swallowed hard, “I have too.”

He pulled back further and gave me a serious look, “I need you to believe that there’s no catch here, okay? I need you to understand that I’m not slumming it by wanting to be with you or by getting to know you. And you don’t have to prove anything to me just because of my job.”

I licked my lips and bowed my head, “I … I can’t promise that I’ll believe it 100 percent of the time. But I’ll try my best.” I closed my eyes and leaned forward, resting my forehead against his shoulder, “I should tell you that I have a track record of ruining things by overthinking. And I get to be a brat when I’m trying to prove that I don’t deserve things.”

The admission came out so nonchalantly, but I felt it deep in my core. It’s one of those things you always know you do — who knows you best than yourself, right? But you never admit it out loud because once those words are out there, there’s no taking them back.

Chris’s hand slipped around the back of my neck and he squeezed gently, “That’s okay. When you overthink, I’ll distract you and when I overthink you can distract me. Deal?”

I laughed softly again, lifting my head to look him in the face, “You really think you want to do this? I’m not easy.”

“Well…” he trailed off, smiling as I pushed at his chest with our hands that were still clasped together. “But I don’t ‘really think,’ I know I want to. Jade … it was killing me not talking to you. Stepping back and giving you space, it sucked. But I did it because I thought it was what you wanted. And if we continue to build this relationship and things aren’t going how we want … I hope we can talk about it and decide together what’s best for us both.”

I pursed my lips and sighed, feeling a thump of panic in my chest, “This is crazy. This is crazy, or I’m dreaming on the plane.”

“Eh, no such luck, kid,” Chris said, obviously trying to hide a smile. “This is really happening.”

It was hard to not smile around him. His was contagious. I reached up with my free hand and pressed it against his cheek, “You look so different than the last time I saw you.”

His jaw ticked and he swallowed hard, “Yeah. Bleach blonde, clean shaven isn’t really my style, but they keep casting me in it.”

My eyes scanned over his face as my fingers moved down and along the line of his jaw, “I still see you in there though.”

Chris scoffed, and I could have sworn his face turned a little red right across his cheeks. Maybe he didn’t look like my Chris from Boston, but he was still there, behind the Hollywood glam. I leaned forward and kissed him again, my hand still clasped in his squeezing his palm.

When we pulled back, he seemed to sigh with relief. “How long are you in town?”

_He asks you that a lot._

“About four more days. Straddling your vacation time over a weekend helps make it last longer,” I joked softly, resting my body against his.

His free arm wrapped around me squeezed tight, “I’d like to take you out, if that’s okay.”

“Are you asking me on a date?” I asked, a wide smile breaking onto my face.

Chris laughed a little, “Yes I am, if you’re so inclined. I have to warn you, my schedule is a little crazy, so we might not have dinner until about 9.”

I shifted excitedly in my seat, “I don’t mind.”

“Great,” he answered, leaning forward and pressing his lips to my forehead. “How about tomorrow night then?”

“Yes,” I breathed, closing my eyes and finally, finally allowing the weight of guilt I felt lift away.

_Everything really was okay. Wow. He’s still talking to me. He’s still kissing me. He’s still touching me and holding me and he wants to take me to dinner. This is really happening._

Chris’s warm palm was moving up and down along my spine and I found myself never wanting to move. He squeezed my hand he was holding, “What’s Max going to ask you when you get back to her place?”

I snorted softly, “Knowing Max, she will calmly have me start from the beginning, tell her every detail of Boston. Then I’ll tell her about this and she will probably get super excited, and give Dodger a run for his money on being bouncy.”

He chuckled, palm still moving on my back, “She seems like a good friend.”

“Max is the best. She’s family, you know?” I answered. “I hated not telling her everything. It felt wrong. I actually had vowed to tell her everything when we got back to her place after here.”

“Why were you afraid to tell her?” he asked quietly.

“Well,” I paused and gathered my thoughts. “It’s not that I didn’t think she would believe me. I might have had to convince her a little bit it was you. But I think … well I didn’t want to tell people it was you because then it brought the outside world in, you know? I was scared it would change from me meeting this great guy Chris to holy crap I met up with Chris Evans. Does that make sense?”

His hand once again cupped the back of my neck and squeezed, “Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. Sometimes I wish I could leave a lot more outside the acting gig than I’m able to.”

I didn’t know what I was going to say in response, even though I opened my mouth to answer. Instead, the moment was interrupted by a sharp knock on his door, “Chris, 20 minutes ‘til I need you in makeup!” an equally sharp voice called out.

We both sighed heavily as I finally raised my head from his shoulder. When our eyes met, Chris smiled at me softly. He reached out and ran his hand through my hair, causing my eyes to close and a contented hum to pass my lips.

“I wish I didn’t have to go,” he whispered. “I don’t wanna lose sight of you again.”

My heart thudded heavily and loudly as I opened my eyes, “I won’t run away, I promise.”

He didn’t look unsure by my statement, but whatever was going through his mind, I wasn’t very good at discerning it. “I trust you,” he said instead and we both smiled at each other.


	5. Part Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER SOUNDTRACK: “Warm Blood” by Flor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time I open this fic and work on it, I swear I’m putting too much of my self in Jade. Ugh.  
> Please enjoy xoxo

**| Part Four |**

_A perpetual high school loop._

8 a.m.

The alarm on my phone went off and I bolted up right, the terror of my dream broken.

_I have nothing to wear._

“Shit.”

I threw the covers off and headed toward Max’s room. Not even bothering to knock, I rushed in and pushed my way into the bed with her. She groaned and pulled the covers over her head, “It’s too early, why.”

“I have a huge problem,” I said seriously to her covered face.

“Can it wait until I have coffee?” she mumbled.

I poked her side, “Max, this is serious. I’m going on a date with Chris tonight and I have _nothing to wear_ ,” I whined.

She finally threw off the covers in exasperation and looked at me with slitted eyes, “You have plenty to wear that I’m sure he will be fine with.”

“Max … what if he takes me somewhere fancy? What if he takes me somewhere I can’t even order, they just have a set menu? Oh God, Max what if it has a dress code and they won’t let us in because I look like a bum?” I slapped my hands over my face, “This is a disaster.”

“Okay, how about we don’t jump ahead of ourselves here,” she responded, shifting to sit up in bed and wipe her hands over her eyes. “Did he tell you where he’s going to take you?”

“Of course not. He wants to surprise me. ‘Wine and dine’ me, he said,” I groaned and rolled over, planting my face into her pillow. “Why can’t I be skinny like you and fit into your clothes?”

“Hey, stop that shit,” Max chided me, smacking me on the ass. “If you looked like me, maybe Chris wouldn’t want to take you on a date, did you ever think of that?”

I flopped over on my back and sighed, “I’m not going there with that thought.”

“Well then, let’s focus on the one thing you need. A hot outfit that is going to make him drool tonight. Maybe make him take you home to his hot Hollywood house in the hills and do dirty things to you,” she said, wagging her eyebrows suggestively at me.

I rolled my eyes, but still felt my face flush. _That would be nice…_ “Fine.”

After breakfast and a ton of coffee between the two of us, Max took me to her favorite shopping spots. By the third store, I was in full panic mode.

“I’m fat in fucking every piece of clothing,” I said exasperated as I stood in front of the mirror. “LA hates fat people and I’m the fattest of them all right now.”

“Jade,” Max admonished from the doorway of my room. “First of all, stop fucking saying that shit. So what you aren’t a size 2. Chris doesn’t care. And that’s what matters in this situation, right?”

My head fell back and I stared at the ceiling to keep the tears from welling up in my eyes, “This is the point where you’re going to say if I walk into the restaurant wearing a potato sack he’s going to love it, right?”

“Well, not a potato sack. Even I wouldn’t let you out of the house in that,” she teased, rubbing my arm sympathetically.

I let out a watery chuckle and looked back to her, “What in the hell am I going to do, Max? I’m so out of my depth.”

Max pursed her lips, obviously thinking, before she reached over to my purse. She reached in and grabbed my phone, “You’re going to text him for details. This secretive restaurant shit is not cute and he needs to cough up the goods.”

I sighed, grabbing the phone, “Not like the movies, is it?”

“Just do it. He’ll get over it,” she pushed.

I pulled up my messages with him, smiling a little at seeing our goodnights from the evening before, as I typed out my message.

_“I know you want to be cute and surprise me, but I’m freaking out about wardrobe. Could you give me a hint so I can find proper attire?”_

“He’s not going to get to respond right away, he’s on set,” I lamented, locking the phone and falling onto the bench seat of the room.

That was why, of course, my phone lit up immediately with a response.

_“You’re adorable. There’s no dress code. Just a neat small place I frequent a lot. Maybe a couple other private spots.”_

I stared at his response and read over it four times before the three little dots appeared again. I worried on my bottom lip as I waited.

_“You’ll look gorgeous in anything you wear though. 😘”_

I groaned, “I’m going to die before he even comes to pick me up.”

Max took the phone from my outstretched hand and gave a laugh. “I gotta admit. Boy is either head over smitten with you, or he’s got some serious game.”

I lifted my head and stood, pushing the door closed so I could get out of the too-small get up I was sporting, “Let’s go with the latter, shall we? I can’t handle thinking about Chris being anything but morbidly curious about me.”

“Girl, you need to get over yourself. You are not focusing on the most important part here,” Max said as she leaned against the door.

I peeled the ridiculously tight skirt down and sighed, “Oh yeah, and what’s that?”

“You said yesterday you blew it with him. And then we run into him and you obviously didn’t mess anything up at all. From what you told me, he was eager to rectify everything,” she said.

“So? He’s a nice guy, Max.”

“Yeah, okay. Miss Denial.” She scoffed, “You have a _sure fire_ thing here with a _gorgeous_ guy who is as much of a dork as you are.”

I tugged my T-shirt back over my hair and pulled the door open quickly, glaring at her, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She, of course, did not look phased by my glare, “In case you forgot, I was there yesterday during your little awkward standoff.”

“Yeah, when he was shooting attitude my way that could burn down a building,” I commented as I pulled on my shoes.

“You mean the sexual tension and absolute longing he was firing off in your direction? Yes, that,” Max countered.

I huffed and brushed my hair out of my face, “Look, I know what you’re trying to do. And it’s not going to work.”

“I’m trying to get you to see that not every guy is a prick, Jade. Not every guy is like the stupid jocks we went to high school with,” she declared. Pointing a finger at me, she continued, “You keep waiting for them to pull ‘the prank’ on you and now you think Chris Evans, of all people, is going to do the same.”

“‘The prank’?” I quoted. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“The hot guy asks you to prom but stands you up. The jock tells you during a tutor session he thinks you have pretty eyes but then dumps a milkshake on you in the cafeteria. The brooding cutie from math stares at you creepily only to call you a fat ass in front of his cool buddies,” Max ticked off. “You think guys are never serious about liking you. You’re stuck in a perpetual high school loop.”

I pursed my lips and grabbed my purse, “If all signs point to one conclusion, Max…”

“But that’s the thing, Jade. You don’t give them a chance to point to anything!”

We stood in front of each other in the dressing room, staring at each other. After a moment, I sighed, caving, “Fine. Say you’re right. Say I am constantly terrified because any experience I have with a guy, there’s a catch. What am I supposed to do about that in the next five hours?”

She put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye, “You relax. You take deep breaths. You let the panic go and … you try to get to know him a little better.”

I sighed again, shoulders slouching.

“Look, I’m not saying fall in love with the guy tonight. I’m saying … just have fun. Don’t put expectations on everything, Jade. Because then he really will fail. And you will too.”

_Yeah. She has a good point there._

I closed my eyes and pushed back my emotions for the millionth time. I wasn’t going to cry in some ridiculous shop in LA over a guy. Max was right, I was stuck in a perpetual high school loop. I was ready to be out. _Immediately_.

“Okay. Okay, no expectations. I’ll … try really hard,” I said.

Max smiled and then wrapped me in a hug, “That’s all you can do, sweetie. And, I think I have an idea for an outfit that will wow but not be over the top.”

“A potato sack?”

The dressing room attendant asked us to leave after Max smacked my arm so hard, my yell startled the other customers.

*-*-*-*-*

My knee bounced up and down recklessly as Max let loose of another curl.

“Jade, I swear to God, if you don’t stop with that knee, you’re going to have a burn hickey, and not a Chris hickey,” she threatened calmly, wrapping another strand of my hair around the curling iron.

I pursed my lips and forced my leg to stop, “Sorry. I’m just internally freaking out.”

“I know,” Max continued on calmly, curling my hair because my hands had been shaking too much to accomplish it myself. “You’re almost there. And then you won’t have anything to worry about.”

That didn’t quite make too much sense to me, considering the object causing me such worry was at least 30 minutes from Max’s place. And speeding ever closer.

Chris had texted me only 10 minutes ago saying he was headed my way and I had not been able to sit still since. I almost burned my hand twice on the curling iron before Max finally took it from me and commanded me to sit.

“You’re going to be fine. Just remember,” Max said in that same damn level voice. “You’ve already slept with him. So you’ve seen him naked and you know his dick isn’t weird.”

I lost it. I couldn’t help it — I was laughing so hard that I snorted and she had to pause in curling my hair as I bent over and laughed even more. After I had gotten control of myself, I looked up at Max in the mirror and shook my head. “Thanks,” I said, still shaking a bit with laughter.

She winked at me, “You’re totally welcome. Now hold still, or he’ll be here and only half of your head will be curled.”

Thirty minutes came and went. We finished my hair and makeup, and Chris still had not shown up yet. I felt my fragile hold on calm start to slip as time ticked on. Max made me down half a glass a wine in an attempt to get me to not panic, or at least take the edge off. It did a bit, but still … no text message and he was running 15 minutes late.

“He’s changed his mind,” I said with a shake of my head. “He changed his mind and just did a quick u-turn and peaced out.”

Max grabbed my shoulders to stop the pacing I had started. “Hey, chill. Okay? It’s L.A. Everyone is always late, especially actors.”

To that I rolled my eyes.

“Seriously though,” Max responded with a soft laugh. “Traffic here is horrible. He’s probably just caught in it. He’ll be here before you know it.”

I sighed and opened my mouth, ready to argue with her again, convinced I had been stood up — when a heavy knock sounded on the door. My eyes widened and I swallowed hard.

“Deep breath,” Max instructed. “You are going to have a great time, okay? You know that, deep down. So, big, calming breath. You’re going to be fine.”

I nodded a little frantically, “Oh yeah. I’ll totally be fine. Until I die.”

Max laughed a little again and shook her head, “I’ll go let him in and tell him you need just a second, okay?”

I couldn’t find my voice, so a nod had to be enough. She returned my nod and made her way down the stairs of her townhouse as the heavy knock sounded again.

Taking her advice, I forced a deep breath in and out of my mouth. I heard Chris’s voice greet Max as he came into the house and I made myself slowly walk over and slip on my sandals.

_This is fine. This is perfectly fine. I’m just going to have a ‘She’s All That’ moment and then we’ll be on our way._

“Crap,” I said out loud, pulling a face. “I’m still in a fucking high school loop and about to have a stupid teen movie moment.”

God, could this get any more cliche?

“Jade, sweetheart. Someone here to see you!” Max called up and I knew I had run out of time to freak out privately. It was now or never.

I grabbed my clutch purse and headed to the stairs. I focused on my breathing, on taking the stairs one at a time, staring at my feet and gripping the railing to make sure I didn’t fall flat on my face.

Just past the halfway point, I finally looked up to see Chris at the bottom step, staring up at me. I swallowed hard, taking in his appearance — a dark blue Henley stretched across every bit of his torso, shoulders, and arms perfectly, black jeans that seemed tailored to him, and that beloved Boston hat on his head.

When I stopped and looked up at him, he reached up and pushed his cap off his forehead and smiled at me. I swallowed hard and took a couple more steps down as he came toward me. Eye level with him, I tried to give him my best blank stare.

“You’re late,” I said softly.

“Yeah,” Chris started slowly, deep Boston accent sounding sheepish. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Traffic here is a nightmare.”

Hearing his voice again just did so many things to me. And being face to face with him again, well …

I watched as his eyes travelled down my frame and suddenly my insecurities about tonight pushed forward again.

I looked down and nervously picked at my yellow sundress. “It’s not too plain, is it?” I asked softly.

Chris shuffled forward a bit again, “Oh no, Jade. It’s perfect. You look beautiful.”

Heat flooded my cheeks and I ducked my head again. Oh boy, horrible flirting Jade was about to make an entrance.

“You clean up pretty good too, Evans,” I replied, reaching forward and gently poking him in the chest.

He smiled at that, slow and completely sinful. Chris reached up and grabbed my hand before I could pull back, tugging me gently into him. I didn’t have much time to react before his mouth pressed softly against mine.

_Yup. This is going totally perfect so far._

After a long, slow kiss, we pulled apart and I rested my forehead against his as he held my hand against his chest.

“Hi,” he said softly.

I smiled brightly, “Hi.”

“So, Mr. Evans, I expect you to take good care of this lady tonight,” Max’s voice cut in. “And have her home at a decent hour.”

I groaned as Chris stepped back and allowed me to step down the remaining stairs — my hand still nestled in his.

“I can totally have her home whenever,” he said immediately before turning back to me. “I don’t want to monopolize your time.”

“She’s joking,” I told him with a soft smile, squeezing his hand reassuringly. “I definitely don’t have a curfew or anything.”

“Oh yeah, you take her as long as you. Wherever you want. Forever preferably,” Max continued, leaning against the doorframe of her living room, arms crossed over her chest as she smiled wickedly.

“Max,” I groaned again.

Chris laughed, “Well, I’ll take her for however long she’ll have me.”

Well, that just made my heart stop as I looked back up at him, that stupid goofy grin taking over my face.

“Aw, okay. You guys are getting too cute. It’s gross,” Max said, moving to shoo us out of her house. “Go on, have a good time, yadda, yadda.”

At the door, I stopped and pulled away from Chris to give my best friend a hug. “Thanks, Max. I’ll text you later,” I told her quietly.

She hugged me back, “You better.” When she pulled back, she winked at me, implying things that made me take a really big deep breath.

I couldn’t assume things. Nope, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t at all.

But as Chris took my hand again and lead me out of the townhouse, I was begging for my assumptions to come true.


	6. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for all your amazing, lovely comments. I read and adore every single one. Enjoy this first part of Date Night! xoxo

##  **| Part Five |**

_I’m trying to be cute and romantic._

Jade rolled down her window on the Jeep and the wind rushed through her hair. Part of Chris wondered if she would be upset at the realization the air was racing through her curls, but she didn’t seem to mind at this point — her eyes were closed, the sun was on her face, and there was a soft smile playing on her lips.

In reality, he felt more upset the wind was getting to do what he had been itching to since he saw her come down the stairs.

He probably would have been lying — most likely would have been lying — if he said he hadn’t been nervous before picking her up. Chris wasn’t exactly in the habit of going out on first dates with one-night stands. Really, his number of one-night stands he  _wanted_  to turn into dates wasn’t enough to even count as a statistic.

So he was sorta kinda in uncharted waters here. But still … it shouldn’t have been too terrifying. Chris knew Jade already. And, he could say with confidence (that wasn’t borderline cocky no matter what Scott said) that he was an  _excellent_  first date. He was prepared, had it all lined out … then right before walking out the door, he paused. Was he forgetting something?

_No, called the restaurant and have the perfect spot, they are prepped for us showing up._

_Dodger was put up and had everything he needed._

_Texted Scott back about lunch the next day and told him not to bug me about what was going that night._

_Got Max’s address already programmed in the maps app._

_Cleaned out my Jeep._

_Double checked my wallet._

_Phone charged._

Then what was it? 

As Chris stood in his entryway, hand on the doorknob, his stomach turning with the familiar anxiousness, it suddenly hit him. He was  _nervous_. Like, legit nervous. Something he hadn’t really truly been in years. Or at least for a first date anyway.

He was 36 years old, for fuck’s sake. And it was just Jade. Not that Jade wasn’t special, because she was. But he already knew her. There wasn’t going to be all that awkward stuff — really it was going to be more like a third or fourth date.

So then why did his stomach flip?

_Because you want her to keep liking you. And if you get into the reality of the situation, she may not like what she finds._

He groaned, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against the door. Chris closed his eyes and forced a deep breath through his nose. He was being stupid. It was fine. So, he grabbed hold of the door, pulled it opened, hopped in his Jeep, and floored it across L.A.

And here they were — headed to dinner as the late afternoon sun beat down on them, splashing beautiful light over Jade’s face and hair. Chris wanted nothing more than to lean over and kiss her. He had to settle for grabbing her hand instead, pulling it over and resting their locked palms on top of his thigh.

The action caused her to look over at him and smile a little sheepishly. “What?” she asked.

He shook his head and turned his attention back to the road, “Nothing. You just look really beautiful. Like you’re really loving it out here.”

Chris’s eyes caught her soft smile out of the corner of his eyes, “Well you know, California is a great vacation spot. Nice way to relax and let go of the stress.”

He nodded, squeezing her hand, “I have a feeling though you wouldn’t want to be out here all the time, though.”

She shrugged, “I mean, it’s nice. It really is. Things are … super different out here. But, I guess I’m a little partial to the East Coast.”

That made him grin, turning his smile to her, “Yeah, me too.”

Jade squeezed his hand back this time and then glanced out at the city they were passing, “You still never told me what you had planned.”

“Well, that’s because I’m trying to be cute and romantic,” he countered cheekily.

She huffed a laugh, “Come on.”

“I am!” he admonished. “But, if you really are dying to know, I think you could probably tease it out of me.”

When he glanced back over at her, she was eyeing him carefully. “Obviously dinner is in the plans,” she said.

Chris nodded, “Yes, that would be correct.”

Jade looked out the window and watched the road for a moment before turning back to him. “We’re not having dinner in the city?”

He grinned. When he didn’t say any more, she scoffed and attempted to hide her smile.

_Oh yeah, she’s impressed._

It took them about an hour with traffic to get out to Venice Beach. As he drove into the small, hippy area, Jade turned to him with a smile. “Are you serious right now?” she asked.

Chris only shrugged, keeping his face a complete mask — part of him was worried maybe he didn’t know Jade as well as he was thinking … “Does it look like I’m serious?”

She gave a soft giggle and turned back to look out the window. “I’ve never been to Venice Beach. I mean, I know people say all this stuff is a tourist trap, but … just look at all the cool stuff!” she gushed.

_Jackpot_.

Chris smiled to himself happily, squeezing her hand.

He found a decent place to park and rushed over to open her door for her. Jade grinned brightly the entire time, immediately taking his hand and fidgeting as they headed down the boardwalk. She kept pointing out neat things that stood out to her and it was just adorable to watch her take it all in.

They passed a group of people who looked at them a little too long and Chris readjusted his ball cap and sunglasses. After they passed, he noticed Jade went quiet. 

Looking over at her, he tugged her hand gently. “Hey, this okay?” he asked.

“Oh yes, definitely. I just …” She paused and worried on her bottom lip, causing him to clench his jaw to avoid groaning at the sight. “You sure you’re not going to get recognized or anything? I didn’t even think…”

He tugged her closer still and shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I just … blend.”

She quirked an eyebrow skeptically and then snorted a laugh. He mocked being offended, “You don’t think I blend?”

Jade shook her head and stifled her laughter, “No, no. It’s not that. It’s just … You are right.”

Now Chris narrowed his eyes playfully, “And what does that mean?”

She pursed her lips and leaned into him, covering their intertwined hands with her other palm and resting her head on his shoulder. “You’re a frat boy.”

He scoffed and pretended to be hurt — it was hard though when she pulled back and laughed at him. Instead, he leaned in close so their noses almost touched, “I’ll make you pay for that later.”

Her eyebrows rose, but she looked more amused than intimidated. That was okay, he would completely get his revenge later.

They made it to the restaurant just in time to see the start of the beautiful sunset across the Pacific. Jade was quiet as Chris gave his name for the reservation and he wasn’t sure why she had clammed up so suddenly. The hostess led them toward the back of the restaurant, where the back door opened up to a deck patio. Chris had been to this spot more times than he could count with family and friends. It was one of his favorites places solely because of the view over the ocean — but the laid back atmosphere helped. He wanted Jade to be comfortable and relaxed, and he couldn’t think of a better place.

As they walked out the back door, all the planning was worth it to hear the little gasp Jade gave as her body full on stopped just outside the door.

“Oh my God … Chris?!” she laughed before turning back to look at him with a bright smile.

It was contagious — Chris grinned brightly at her. “Yes, this is where we are gonna be dining. Go check it out.”

She pursed her lips, clearly contemplating doing as he said before she made her way over to the edge of the deck, gazing out at the ocean. The sight gave him a warm feeling. Thanking the hostess, Chris walked up to Jade’s side, leaning over the rail himself and turning his face to watch hers. The sunshine was inching toward the horizon, casting the typical colors of a beautiful California sunset. The light played across Jade’s face and coupled with her beautiful smile, she was a gorgeous sight.

After a moment, she looked over at him and laughed a little again, “Chris, this is … this place is great.”

He nodded and felt his smile match hers, “I’m glad you like it.”

Jade took a deep breath and then turned back to look out across the seating on the deck. After her assessment, she turned back to him with a raised eyebrow, “Did you pull some Richard Gere, Pretty Woman thing and reserve this whole deck for us?”

Chris laughed, loving her reactions, “Nah, not the whole deck. I just asked them to give us a little space.”

HIs answer brought another purse of her lips, but her eyes were bright. After a moment, she leaned in and gently pressed a kiss to his mouth. It was sweet and far too short.

“Thank you, Chris. This is perfect,” she said softly.

The compliment made him puff up with pride.

“Hey there guys,” a male voice pulled them back to the reality they really weren’t alone. “Your table is right here if you’re ready to get some drinks ordered?”

Chris looked back at Jade and brushed some hair behind her ear, “What do you think, Writer?”

She smiled at his nickname, “Yeah, I’m ready for a drink.”

They got seated and the waiter introduced himself as Aaron. Chris ordered a Heineken, but when it came to Jade, she gave him a smirk before addressing Aaron.

“You have a draft list?” she asked.

“Of course.” Chris watched as the man handed her a long card. “Whatever questions you have, I can answer too.”

Chris looked over at Jade with a smirk as the two of them talked about IPAs, pale ales, and all that craft beer nonsense.

“If you’d like, I can bring you a few flights to sample,” Aaron told her after a few moments.

That seemed to be the answer to all her worries. “Oh, that would be perfect.”

“Awesome. We do four for $15.”

Jade pulled a face.

“Go ahead,” Chris jumped in. “My treat.”

She worried on that full bottom lip again before she smirked, “Only if you try them with me?”

He groaned good-naturedly. “Aww, see that’s been your plan all along.”

Jade’s lip now jutted out in a fake pout and he chuckled softly.

“Of course, sweetheart.”

She gave a little triumphant dance in her chair and then beamed up at Aaron. Five seconds later, she had rattled off four beers and Aaron was off, giving her a cheeky grin as he went. It rubbed Chris the wrong way a little, but he wasn’t about to be a punk about it.

Well, maybe he’d be a little bit of a punk.

“So he was totally flirting with you,” he said nonchalantly.

Jade raised an eyebrow and then scoffed, “He was working a tip.”

“You’re cute and you don’t even know it.”

She rolled her eyes, then stood, “Okay, so then we’ll solve this real quick.”

Chris couldn’t stop his amused look as she moved from her chair across from him to the one directly to his right. Jade delicately lowered herself into the seat and then smiled at him.

“Now there’s no doubt of who my focus is on tonight,” she said.

Chris smirked, “Ah, now you’ve played right into my plans.”

He reached over and took hold of the arm of her chair, pulling her right up against his side. She chuckled at the action but seemed content with his line of thinking. She leaned against his side and he wasted no time in closing the distance between their lips. After a slow, delicious kiss, Jade gently pulled back and rested her forehead against his. Chris sighed, feeling everything in him relax at having her so close again.

“I missed you.” The words slipped from his mouth before he thought about it really.

Jade smiled shyly and ducked her head. He watched her as she even blushed a bit.

“Is that hard to believe?” he asked quietly, genuinely curious why she would think otherwise.

Jade shrugged, “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Chris. I’m just not used to being a person people miss.”

He hummed at that, running a hand up and down her back slowly. “Well, that’s crazy because I definitely have missed a lot about you.”

She leaned into him more, “I’ve missed you too.”

That made him feel good. So good, Chris had to lean in and kiss her again — just because he could. When they pulled apart again, she gave a breathless laugh, “You know, this is ticking all my romance boxes right now — which I never thought possible.”

“Oh?” he asked, completely surprised by her admission. He slipped his hand up her back and gently cupped the back of her neck — she seemed to respond well to that the day before when she had been nervous and upset. Hopefully, it would help her again today. “What didn’t you think it was possible?”

She pursed her lips and looked away, “Just … thought my standards were too high, you know. That I was too much of a romantic with my head in the clouds.”

“Oh no, no, no,” Chris answered, shifting to catch her gaze. “You shouldn’t ever think that. There’s no such thing as too romantic, sweetheart.”

That had her smiling brightly again and quickly pecking his lips, “In that case … if I forget to tell you later, I had a great time tonight.”

He chuckled, “‘Nother ‘Pretty Woman’ nod.”

Jade giggled, “I’m not a hooker, but we did sleep with each other the first night we met.”

That made him laugh hard as Aaron showed up with their drinks. Jade didn’t move far from him as they quickly browsed the menu and got an order in. Chris downed half of his beer before Jade began to push him to make good on his promise on trying the craft drafts. It was cute how she thought she could find one he liked. And when she pouted at her lack of success, he laughed and took her hand, kissing the back of her palm and telling her maybe one day she would find one for him.

Their food was delicious and Jade hummed and sighed her delight the entire meal, which made Chris happy. The sunset was amazing as was their conversation, melting all of his nerves away. The dinner went even better than he had hoped. Jade ordered a couple more drinks and they didn’t rush themselves. The California air took a chilly quality, so Chris settled the bill and wrapped his arm around Jade as they left, hoping to help her stay warm. She was very comfortable, which he attributed to the drinks  — she kept touching him, smiling, and leaning against him. If she was cold, she didn’t say anything.

As they made their way back to his Jeep, Jade kept swinging their clasped hands between them. The playful attitude made his heart feel warm and full.

“So what now?” she asked as he opened her door for her.

He smiled at her as she leaned against the vehicle and looked up at him. “What do you mean, dear Jade?”

Jade licked her lips and then pulled her plump bottom one between her teeth. Every time she had done that tonight had quite literally driven Chris insane. He had wanted to do nothing but pull her close and suck on that lip before doing other things. She looked like a whole lot of trouble and Chris wanted to jump straight into it.

“Are we gonna be old and boring and call it a night? Or are we gonna go have some fun?” Jade asked softly, reaching out and hooking her fingers through the belt loops on his jeans.

He took the cue and stepped closer to her, crowding her in the open car door. “What do you think would be fun right now?”

Chris found himself fascinated as he watched Jade pretend to give it some serious thought. “Dancing,” she said after a moment, looking up at him with bright eyes.

He chuckled because of course she’d want to do that. And he would be happy to oblige her. “What kind of dancing are you thinking, sweetheart? Disney-rated dancing or Dirty Dancing?”

He knew the answer, of course, but she was too cute at the moment not to tease.

Jade wrapped her arms around his middle and tugged him closer to her. She then tipped her face up to smirk at him, “Dirty Dancing.”

Chris wet his lips, trying to be smooth and collected even though she was completely driving him out of his mind.

“I think we can arrange that.” 


	7. Part Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re going dancing — and other things. Chris has a lot of thoughts he has to work out and decide to take FOREVER DOING IT and that’s why this chapter took forever to finish. But it’s fluffy.  
> Also, I didn’t really edit this so … any mistakes I apologize in advance. 
> 
> Let’s all blame Chris, shall we?  
> xoxo

##  **| Part Six |**

Clubs were not his forte. Well … they hadn’t been for a while anyway.

However, thanks to his brother and a few friends, Chris was familiar with a few places that might afford Jade the chance to dance without everyone in the world seeing them. The last thing he wanted was a flash of recognition to come across someone’s face while Jade was having a good time.

But this place — a little hole in the wall back in L.A. — would be okay. He hadn’t been in a while. In a long while. But it would be okay. He hoped the bouncer he knew still worked there.

While Chris mused over the possibilities of being seen and what he was getting into, Jade sat next to him and excitedly hummed along with the radio. It was enough to make him at least pause in his minor freak out and smile over at her. She giggled and went back to singing softly and wiggling in her seat.

Yeah, it would be okay.

He parked a block or so away from the front entrance and adjusted his cap with a deep breath before he got out. When he opened her door, he realized Jade wasn’t moving to get out of the Jeep.

“You okay?” Chris asked slowly, studying her face for any kind of clue as to what she was thinking.

Jade pursed her lips and sighed, turning to him and slowly slipping out of her seat. “We don’t have to do this,” she said softly.

_She’s disappointed. You fucked up._

He swallowed hard and stepped closer to her, “Why wouldn’t we do this?”

Another deep breath as she turned her eyes down to her shoes. “I didn’t think it through. Someone could see you. Plus you may not want to spend the end of our day in a crowded dance club…”

“Hey,” Chris interrupted her, his hands going to her hips and squeezing gently. “If you really want to do this, then we will. I think I would enjoy watching you dance a little,” he said, ending the sentence with a grin that had her trying to hide her own smile. “But if you want to leave, we can do that too. I got to pick the dinner, you get to pick the fun.”

He watched as Jade worked through his words before she replied. “What about getting recognized?”

Now, that was a legit concern. Chris forced in a deep breath, knowing he couldn’t lie to her about the risk — not that he wanted to, but he didn’t want her to worry.

So he shrugged, “Jade, honey, that possibility is there every time I step out of my door. Not to sound like a conceited asshole, but it happens. However, more often than not, I blend.”

She watched him seriously as he spoke and when he was finished, she gave him a soft smile, “Well, you are kind of plain looking after all.”

He chuckled, tugging her hand and body close to him before shutting the Jeep door, “C’mon, trouble. I wanna see what dance moves you’ve got.”

The thumping of the music outside should have worried Chris a little bit, but with Jade clutching his hand as she trailed behind him, he found it wasn’t that intimidating at all. His worries about knowing the bouncers at the door were alleviated when one of them nodded at him in the universal male sign of recognition, motioning Chris toward the door.

He gave a small tug to Jade again and hurried toward the front. The inside was just as he remembered — dark, neon lights, and pulsing music. It wasn’t a themed club, thankfully, but it was your typical bar with a dance floor. As Chris moved across the room toward the bar, he took a peek behind him to make sure Jade was still feeling okay. The wide grin on her face made him feel better.

At the bar, a perfect space opened up off center and Chris slid in, commandeering the bar stool with one leg as he flagged down the bartender with his free hand. The bass from the current rap song playing blasted through the air as he tugged Jade up against him and the college-aged looking man serving drinks leaned over the bar. It put into reality how old Chris suddenly felt.

He ordered two beers, knowing Jade wouldn’t mind his choice, and as the bartender went for their drinks, he turned to smile at her. Her smile was still bright, but the way she held onto his hand tightly made him believe she was a tad nervous.

Chris leaned toward her, brushing his lips against her ear, “Take a seat, sweetheart.”

She surprised him when she shook her head and instead pushed him back in a gesture for him to sit down on the stool. Which he did, because who the hell was he to not do what she told him to?

Once he plopped down onto the seat, stretching one leg out and propping the other foot up on the rung of the stool, Jade stepped up between his legs, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

_Okay, this is good,_ he thought, his hands automatically finding a home on her hips.

She smiled as she leaned forward and brushed her mouth against his ear, causing him to shudder, “I’m here to dance, remember?”

Chris grinned — that she was. And hell … maybe he would dance with her.

The bartender slid the beers in front of Chris and Jade was quick to lean over and grab hers. She took a long, healthy draw of hers before obviously letting out a tension-filled sigh. Working up the nerve, he bet, and he couldn’t blame her. The place was packed and hot as hell.

It was hard to talk — the music thumping from the speakers had them leaning into each other, lips brushing against ears as they spoke. It caused an undeniable tension to built. Chris moved his hands along her hips and lower back, a slow circuit as they enjoyed their drinks. Jade did the same with her hands on his shoulders, and the more she drank, the bolder she got with her dancing.

He couldn’t stop smirking at her. Their second round of beers brought her buzz back in full force. Her hips moved under his hands, making figure eights as she swayed with the bass of the music. Then, she started looking over her shoulder back at the dance floor. The first few times, Chris didn’t think anything of it, just chalked it up to her surveying the room.

But then when she turned back to him with a bit of a pout on her full lips, he laughed.

“You should go dance!” he said into her ear.

Jade pursed her lips and then shook her head, “I’m not gonna leave you here by yourself.”

That made him feel good. He reached up and tucked some hair behind her ear, “How ‘bout you go ahead, sweetheart, while I get another drink?” he suggested. “I think I’ll be ok for a few songs.”

For a moment, he thought she was going to continue to protest. But then she smiled and leaned forward, pecking his lips and slipping out of his arms towards the mass of people on the floor.

Chris kept an eye on her for a few seconds, before he signaled for another beer. Dancing wasn’t something he thought was horrible — just doing it in public wasn’t really his thing. It made him feel awkward and totally out of place.

But Jade was clearly enjoying it. The song playing at that moment sounded vaguely familiar — the pulse of the bass guitar and twang of a keyboard were addicting to the crowd as they moved.

The lyrics ironically spoke of dancing and Chris laughed to himself, loving the way Jade moved and got into the music.

The bridge of the song hit, more bass guitar, and Jade pointed at him before waving him out to her. He felt his eyebrows go up on surprise. He played along and gestured to himself, mouthing, “Me?” to her.

Jade laughed and nodded, again beckoning him to her. Chris sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes and shaking his head, waving her off. That only caused her to pout. But he wouldn’t be deterred — he only shook his head again in protest.

She gave him a cute glare and then smirked.

_Uh oh._

She bound toward him, the crowd parting for her easily as if it knew her mission. When she got up to him, out of breath and looking amazingly gorgeous, she grabbed his hands and tugged.

“Dance with me!” Jade said brightly.

“Ah nah, I don’t think you wanna see that,” Chris responded, not budging from his seat.

She pouted again, leaning forward, “Pretty please?” she begged sweetly.

Oh she knew what she was doing. When he narrowed his eyes at her playfully, she deepened her pout.

He was a goner.

“Okay, baby. Let’s go dance.”

If he didn’t know any better, he would have guessed he had granted Jade her every wish by the grin that lit her face. She tugged his hands again and pulled him into the crowd. No one really took notice of them, though they all jostled together in some odd, yet synchronized movement.

When she found a spot she was happy with, Jade turned and smiled at him. Her arms slipped over his shoulders and she pressed closer to him, her body urging his to move. And it did — way before his brain told him to not move at all.

Chris let one hand find a home on her hip while the other reached up and took one of her hands to hold. There was no real method to how they moved — they just did what felt natural to the beat. It wasn’t any grinding or anything dirty, but it was fun.

Honestly, it was the most fun Chris had dancing in a long time.

He twirled her in their small bubble of space and she threw her head back in laughter. Drawing her back against him, they swayed and moved, just enjoying the moment in the middle of the dance floor. She grabbed his ball cap, putting it on her head backwards and looking entirely too cute with her curls and sundress, her skin glistening under the dance floor lights.

There was some sort of tight feeling in his chest — not bad and nothing to make him think he was panicking about the situation. Chris couldn’t say the warm fluttering wasn’t unfamiliar, but it definitely was something he wasn’t ready to put to words yet.

As he twirled Jade again and listened to her laugh, saw the flush on her face, and took in how bright her eyes were, he just knew he was ready for that feeling to grow a little bit stronger.

* * *

“Oh. My. Gosh.”

Chris chuckled, dumping his keys into the small ceramic bowl on the table by his front door. Jade hadn’t really stepped into his house yet — just came to a hard stop. He pressed a hand to her hip and gently coaxed her further.

“It’s nothing much,” he said, slipping his hand into hers and pulling her into the darkened house more, flipping on lights as he went.

As they came into the front living room, she gasped again. “Chris, this place is beautiful!”

He shook his head with a bright smile, “It’s good enough. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I bought it because I like it. But the brownstone in Boston is so much better.”

Jade hummed an answer — he wasn’t sure if it was an agreement. He wouldn’t say she was drunk, but after a few more drinks at the dance club, she was very giggly and talkative.

“Wow,” she said, pulling back his heavy curtains to take in the lights of Hollywood out of the large windows in his living room.

Satisfied she would be okay for the moment, Chris ducked back to find Dodger — the pup was prancing impatiently in his room, waiting to be let loose. As soon as he unlatched the gate, Dodger barreled out of the room. His destination was clear and Chris had to laugh softly at the high pitched gasp Jade gave when the dog found her.

“Oh my gosh, Dodger, there you are! You’re such a good boy, aren’t you? Such a good boy!” she cooed at the dog.

Chris followed his dog’s path back into the living room to see the two of them practically dancing with one another — Dodger turning in circles around her, wagging his tail in pure happiness, while Jade turned with him, apparently not caring she was going round and round and round following him.

When he walked in, Jade looked up and giggled, “I will never get over how amazing your dog is.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty damn cool,” Chris answered, stepping closer to her. “You feeling okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m great!” she proclaimed, leaning over again to pet Dodger as the pup wormed his way in between the two of them. She once again laid praise upon the dog as she rubbed her hands over him. As Chris looked down, it was easy to peak down the front of her dress …

He pursed his lips and groaned softly. Nope, nope. She was tipsy and he was not going to sleep with her when she wasn’t sober.

“I need to take him out, you gonna be okay for a minute?” he asked, trying to gauge her.

Jade grinned and leaned in, pressing her lips against his. After a moment, she pushed back and wobbled for a moment, “Do you care if I’m nosy?”

“Not at all,” he grinned, helping her steady herself with a hand on her waist. “Just don’t go in the back room. That’s where the sex dungeon is.”

She giggled so hard she snorted, her hand flying to cover her mouth as her face went red. He made him laugh before leaning forward and kissing her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

Getting Dodger to actually do his business and no constantly whine to be let back in to Jade was a mission. Chris really hoped once he got the pup back inside he would go back to sleep. Business done, he herded Dodger in and went to grab two glasses of water. Stepping into the living room, he came up short …

Jade was not in there.

Chris looked around curiously, “Jade?”

He didn’t hear an answer. Dodger trotted up to his side, looking up at him curiously as well. Turning around, Chris headed back out and down the hallway toward the master bedroom. Again, he stopped, seeing her purse on the floor next to Dodger’s favorite lion plush toy. His eyes moved toward the hallway, where his ball cap seemed to have been dropped.

“Sweetheart,” he called, following the trail. There was one shoe, and then the other a bit further down.

Near the door to his bedroom, her pretty sundress was crumbled and forgotten on the floor.

A swooping feeling went through him at the sight.

“Jade, honey,” Chris said again, carefully stepping around the dress and into his bedroom.

Another tight feeling in his chest, similar to the one he had in the club when they were dancing, constricted in him. At the foot of his bed, her bra laid, tossed haphazardly. And face down on his bed, in just her pretty yellow panties, her golden hair around her like a halo. He gave a soft laugh and headed over to the side of the bed. When he gently sat down next to her, placing one of the glasses on the nightstand, Jade sighed and turned her face to him.

“Hi,” she said softly, her voice raspy with the sleep attempting to take her.

Chris reached forward and brushed some of her hair back before resting his palm on her bare back. “Hey, whatcha doing?” he asked.

Jade grinned, “I wanted to see your room and your bed looked super comfy.”

He chuckled, “And what’s your assessment?”

She snuggled further into the sheets, “Very comfy.”

“Well, I’m glad you like it,” he answered, moving his hand up and down lightly against her soft skin. “You might wanna sit up and drink some water. You’ll thank me in the morning.”

Jade groaned and shifted over on her side, taking the glass and slowly drinking — Chris desperately tried to keep his eyes on her face instead of falling lower. Once she was finished and handed the glass back, she snuggled back into the bed, looking up at him with sleepy eyes.

“Hey, Chris?” she asked, her voice sheepish.

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

He watched her as she swallowed hard and closed her eyes, “Is it okay if I stay the night? I don’t know if I can get home.”

Chris chuckled, leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead, “Of course you can, Jade. You’re always welcome.”

She hummed her pleasure and smiled as she snuggled again into the covers. “Awesome, cause I’m just …” she broke as she started to yawn and then didn’t continue the sentence.

Another soft laugh left him as he pushed the hair from her face and then stood, grabbing the cover to pull up over her. He then went about his nightly routine, settling Dodger in a spot on the floor instead of the bed (the pup seemed to pout, but still curled up on his bed, resting his head on his paws as he watched Chris move about), and getting into some sweats and T-shirt for bed.

He was trying his best to be respectful of Jade — as he brushed his teeth, he stood in the doorway and watched her sleep. Maybe he should sleep in the guest room? Sure they had kissed and everything, but that didn’t mean she wanted to sleep with him again. Chris frowned as a huge wave of disappointment flowed through him. It wasn’t fair to assume — they had both agreed they wouldn’t. But he also wasn’t going to take advantage of her being intoxicated.

With his mind made up and his teeth clean, Chris moved back into the bedroom, ready to grab Dodger and head down the hall.

But Jade turned over and looked at him, her face scrunched cutely in frustration. “Are you ever going to get into bed?” she grumbled.

Chris pursed his lips, really forcing back the biggest grin that was attempting to fight its way onto his face. With one last pat to Dodger’s head, he hit the lights and climbed into the bed, scooting closer to Jade underneath the covers. She met him halfway, rolling over and burrowing her face against his chest. Then she huffed in annoyance, hands reaching down and grabbing for the hem of his T-shirt.

“What are you doing?” he half whispered, half laughed.

Jade was pouting, hands continuing to attempt to draw his shirt up, “I’m cold and you’re always so warm.”

Chris’s heart was pounding against his chest and her request made him immensely happy, but … “And you need my shirt off because…?”

She huffed again and looked up at him — well he imagined she did in the dark, “Skin to skin is the best way to transfer body heat, Christopher.”

Not for the first time that night, he thought about how she was going to be the utter death of him. So that’s why he sat up, pulled the T-shirt off to toss away, and then moved back under the cover. He loved the sound of Jade sighing in delight as she pressed her bare chest against his. Her skin was soft and had a slight chill, so Chris wrapped his arms around her and guided her as close as they could get, tucking his leg around on of hers to intertwine their bodies further.

He listened as her breathing evened out and she dropped off to sleep, one hand resting on the small of her back while the other carded his fingers through her loose, soft hair.

Chris knew it was crazy, probably one of the craziest things he had ever allowed himself to think … but at the end of the day he was at heart a hopeless romantic.

So he couldn’t help but reveal in how at home he felt with Jade wrapped up his arms. And how he always wanted to keep her there.


End file.
